ANGOLAN CIVIL WAR: MAIN CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES - HISTORY - 2025

The Angolan civil war was an armed conflict that lasted in the African nation for more than 26 years (from 1975 to 2002), with brief periods of fragile peace. War breaks out once Angola becomes independent from Portugal, being the last African colony to achieve its independence, initiating a violent struggle for power within its territories.

The main protagonists of the civil war in Angola were the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

Bridge destroyed in Angolan civil war.

The civil war was, essentially, a power struggle between these two liberation movements, backed by the great powers in the shadow of the Cold War.

Once independence was achieved, the MPLA was the first to seize power, taking a series of political and economic decisions that would historically mark Angola, while, from an international perspective, countries such as France, the United States, Russia, Cuba and South Africa would seek its own prominence within the African nation.

The civil war in Angola left more than half a million dead and up to a third of the total population internally displaced and in neighboring countries.

Since 2002, when the armed conflict officially ended, the country has remained in a state of turmoil and confusion, with an unstable economic system and a social perception that lives under the shadow of the violence of the past.

Causes of Angola's civil war

Ethnic and social tensions

Prior to the arrival of independence, the tensions in Angola related to ethnic differences and conflicts, as well as the confrontation between the MPLA and FNLE forces against the Portuguese army as part of the Angolan War of Independence, which began in 1961 and whose end would almost instantaneously start the civil conflict.

With the incursions and military participation that began to be carried out in the early 70s, countries such as China, South Africa and Cuba maintained interests and projects within Angola.

Local movements began to feel a certain aversion to interference by these nations, thus boycotting foreign operations while continuing to fight for their independence.

Angolan independence

The coup that Portugal experienced in 1974 led to Angola acquiring its independence a year later.

By 1975, the MPLA, UNITA and the National Front for the Liberation of Angola (FNLA) formed a transitional government that in just one year would be dissolved, leaving the highest representative of the MPLA in power, and initiating the armed conflict with the dissident movements.

The MPLA, with the support of the Soviet Union and Cuba, began to seize totalitarian control of the Angolan nation, seeking to impose a centralized political and economic system; the expropriation and nationalization of the private company; the underestimation of the dollar against the local currency (kwanza), which caused excessive inflation.

On the other hand, and given the communist character of the government in power, the United States and South Africa began to supply the members of UNITA (claiming an anti-communist position against the MPLA) with supplies, weapons, ammunition and mercenaries, intensifying the confrontation and guerrilla warfare in Angola.

Peaceful periods

A brief period of peace and elections in 1992 could mark the end of the civil war in Angola; However, the victory and perpetuity of MPLA caused displeasure in the ranks of UNITA, whose founder, and presidential candidate, decided to ignore the results and resume the armed conflict.

In 1994 another peace process began between the government represented by the MPLA and the armed rebels of UNITA. Only two years were enough for a return to armed violence.

Consequences

Cessation of arms and casualties

The war officially ended in 2002, with the death of UNITA leader, Jonás Savimbi, and the laying down of arms of this movement, which became a political party.

UNITA and MPLA agree to a ceasefire, beginning to look for non-violent political alternatives to change the course of the country.

The end of the civil war left Angola in a state of ruin. 500,000 dead and four million refugees and internally displaced.

The war left Angola in the middle of a humanitarian crisis, with more than 60% of Angolans lacking the most basic services and access.

Angola in ruins

The war left a terrible economic scenario: a non-existent labor market (massive exodus of studied Angolans and professionals), uncultivable land due to mines and the absence of a national productive apparatus devoured by currency inflation.

Since then, the government has moved away from a nationalist position and by exploiting natural resources, it has allowed a greater amount of foreign investment, which has allowed it to invest and infrastructure and establish international agreements.

Everything, however, has been overshadowed by acts of corruption and sudden expropriations that prevent the national economy from developing.

Citizens highly disapprove of President José Eduardo dos Santos (in power since 1975), who is accused of withholding the nation's monetary wealth together with a small group.

The memory of the inhumane treatment of the UNITA and MPLA soldiers, who sacrificed the lives of civilians and left decimated villages, still persists in a large part of the population that refuses to return, or rebuild their country.

A mined country

Today, Angolans are still affected by an evil installed many years ago: explosive mines. Practically the entire national territory can be considered mined.

After decades of conflict, arduous clean-up work has so far been done by institutions attached to the United Nations, which estimate that they have removed up to 90,000 mines and cleared more than 800 minefields.

Despite the efforts, the rural areas of Angola continue to be the most vulnerable to a constant threat, impeding the development of the region and hindering the living conditions of their own and those who return from other territories.

References

1. Bender, GJ (1978). Angola Under the Portuguese: The Myth and the Reality. University of California Press.
2. Ferreira, ME (2006). Angola: conflict and development, 1961-2002. The Economics of Peace and Security Journal, 24-28.
3. Hurst, R. (nd). Angolan Civil War (1975-2002). Retrieved from Black Past.org Remembered & Reclaimed: blackpast.org
4. Jahan, S. (2016). Human Development Report 2016. Washington DC: Communications Development Incorporated.
5. Marques, R. (2013). The roots of violence in Africa. The case of Angola. Analysis, 43-60.
6. Polgreen, L. (July 30, 2003). Angolans Come Home to 'Negative Peace'. The New York Times.
7. The HALO Trust. (sf). Angola. Obtained from The HALO Trust: halotrust.org.